T-Mobile ditches entry-level postpaid 200 MB smartphone data plan

T-Mobile USA has decided to eliminate its entry-level 200 MB data plan for new postpaid smartphone customers, a spokeswoman confirmed. However, the 200 MB option will still available to customers using T-Mobile's "Value" plans, which do not offer smartphone subsidies.

A T-Mobile spokeswoman confirmed to FierceWireless the details of a TMoNews blog post on the price change. As of Oct. 10 T-Mobile is no longer offering the 200 MB plan for new postpaid smartphone customers. Postpaid customers must now purchase at least 2 GB of data per month via T-Mobile's "Classic Unlimited Plus" plan.

An internal T-Mobile sales memo said the change "modernizes the data service requirement minimum--current smartphones consume data at a higher rate," and that the 2 GB plan would protect customers from overages and throttling. Existing customers on the 200 MB plan will not be affected by the change. The spokeswoman noted that customers can purchase a handset at full price or via monthly payments, or bring their own device and pair it with a "Value" plan, and still get the 200 MB data feature. The 2 GB plan costs $20 per month; the 200 MB plan costs $10 per month.

Currently, T-Mobile offers four smartphone data plan options for postpaid customers: the 2 GB option, a 5 GB plan, a 10 GB plan and the company's recently revived "Unlimited Nationwide 4G" plan. The unlimited plan, introduced in early September, costs $20 per month when added to one of T-Mobile's postpaid "Value" voice and text plans (which do not include a smartphone subsidy) or $30 per month when added to one of its postpaid "Classic" voice and text plans (which do include subsidized smartphones). However, the new T-Mobile unlimited plan is not available with prepaid rate plans nor is it available for other devices like tablets. Further, smartphone tethering in not supported by the new unlimited plan.

T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said in September that customers using Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S III smartphone, which is compatible with T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network, use an average of 1.6 GB per month. In mid-June the carrier said subscribers with smartphones capable of accessing its HSPA+ 42 network consumed an average of 1.3 GB per month.